


Fortress of the Ignis

by Seer_of_Soul



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Dr. Kogami's A+ Parenting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:35:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28474788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seer_of_Soul/pseuds/Seer_of_Soul
Summary: While cleaning out some of his father’s old files, Ryoken accidentally activates a program that revives all the ignis. However, in doing this, it also activates a protection protocol that seals the ignis and their origins in safe battlements made from their elemental attributes. Ryoken has to rescue the lost children once again, before Queen and SOL tech beat him to them.
Relationships: Kusanagi Jin & Lightning, Revolver | Kougami Ryouken & Specter, Specter & Earth, The Lost Kids & Revolver | Kougami Ryouken
Comments: 19
Kudos: 33





	1. The Program

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Welcome to my Yu-Gi-Oh fic! 
> 
> (I'm starting this at the first of the year, wonder if this'll go the same as the last I did this >w>)

The green pixelated light blinded him for a moment, rushing past him in a torrent that obscured everything else. Then it pulled back, opened up, revealing the dark room that spread out before him, the gloom ahead of him only interrupted by a few sparse glowing lights. Ryoken wasn’t quite sure how he felt being here, even sheltered behind Revolver’s avatar. Revolver, the persona of Revolver at least, wouldn’t be the least bit off-put or nervous. But Ryoken felt… something. It wasn’t good. Conflicted maybe.

This was his father’s work, laid out before him. This was where he’d spent his time when he was confined to a programmed avatar, trapped within the network. It felt wrong to go through it, wrong and dangerous. But the past was the past. Ryoken wanted to be rid of it.

He’d volunteered to do it, to clean out his father’s old programs. Aso, Kyoko, and Genome had all looked hesitant when he’d mentioned wanting to, not wanting to reopen barely healing wounds, and there was no way he was letting Specter near it. So Ryoken bundled himself up in the security of Revolver’s skin and prepared to do it himself.

He couldn’t really breathe in the network, but he took a deep breath anyway. The action was enough to soothe his nerves enough to step off the entry platform and step into the gloom. Black boxes were stacked and scattered around the room. Maybe two dozen of them were still actively running, tracking programs probably, cursed to endlessly scan the network for any trace of ignis code.

Ryoken looked around the room helplessly. He didn’t know where to start. He had no idea what was in each space. The digital programs were physicalized in the network, so at least they were easier to see and look at, but there were so many, and he didn’t know how they were organized.

Ryoken sighed to himself, moving towards the nearest box. He knelt next to it, waving his hand above it to summon the list of contents. His eyes scanned the list. Out of the dozen programs in the box, there was one, maybe two worth keeping, for later reference. Or… maybe six.

Maybe it was the carefully instilled paranoia, the overcautiousness that he’d had no choice but learn to lead the Knights, but he didn’t want to lose anything that he might regret. Ryoken sighed to himself, porting the most important files onto the flash drive he’d brought with him and merely organizing the rest into his personal filing system.

An hour passed.

Then another. And another.

Ryoken rubbed his fingers against his eyes, trying to wipe away the exhaustion that was slowly swallowing him whole. His eyes stung, the words blurring the longer he stared at the open list. He wasn’t even a third of the way through the room and his flash drive was mostly full already. He had, perhaps, underestimated the scope of his self-assigned project.

Ryoken looked up at the rest of the boxes full of programs. What he didn’t finish, he’d have to come back to sort through later. He glanced down at the flash drive in his hand. It was 94% full. He could… fit a few more things onto it. Then he’d log out, take a break, unload the flash drive, and come back to do more.

Ryoken opened the next box. His eyes flicked over the list of programs. There were only five in this box, far less than normal. The last one caught his interest.

>IGS_Revival.

What did that mean?

His father didn’t usually use code in his program names. This was… strange. An older program maybe? Or a project name?

Ryoken sat back on his heels, stretching his back out. Even in the avatar, even in Vrains, he could still feel sore. He definitely felt sore, and tired. Ryoken tapped the program file to open it so he could look through it and see what it was.

The sudden flood of light in the room immediately alarmed him. Ryoken bolted to his feet, head whipping around wildly.

“Revival Program Activated,” said an automated voice that sounded chillingly like Ryoken’s father, echoing from the walls of the room. “Awaiting Program Response.”

“No! Stop!” Ryoken cried into the emptiness of the room.

“Voice authorization failed. Clearance level insufficient.”

“Override: Code Revolver”

“Override failed. Clearance level insufficient. Program Response Received.”

Ryoken watched in quiet horror as a loading screen appeared overhead. It only took a moment for the program to load. There was nothing he could do. With one last chilling, emotionless statement, feeling like a final nail in Ryoken’s own coffin, “Execute.” the lights died, taking his father’s voice with them.

Ryoken felt like his heart had shattered.

What did he just do? What had he done? He’d failed again. He’d done some massive fuck up again. He’d ruined everything in an instant, with one careless mistake. A pit opened up in his chest, hallowing him out from the inside. He was having trouble breathing.

He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth. The creak of Revolver’s leather gloves helped calm him a bit. He squeezed his fist tighter until he could feel his fingernails through the leather of the glove, until he finally got his breathing under control. Three things to do.

First: find out what the hell he just activated.

Second: find out what it did.

Third: make a plan from the information he gathers.

Ryoken felt better. He called up the program again. This time it opened without issue. Well then. It had been made to activate upon opening. It wasn’t something he’d done. He still should have scanned it before trying to open it, especially since he didn’t recognize the file.

There were a couple of connected programs, outside this room, outside programs that had activated in response. Among them was one called “Program_Lock_Revise.” and “Fortify_ORGN.”

Fortify… Organization? What did that mean?

What had he done?

He sent out a request to the programs, receiving copies of their code a moment later. Ryoken unfurled the codes to all three programs in front of him, reading through them in a near panic.

Ryoken swallowed the cold horror that grew inside him with every line of code he read. These programs… they were made to ‘revive’ the ignis, then reprogram them to… ‘fortify’ their origins. What did that mean? What had it even done, with all of the ignis gone? Quite possibly, nothing at all. Or maybe…. No. It couldn’t have. There was no way that it’d….

Revival, revision, fortification. Did his father really make a program like this? To what ends? What could he have possibly hoped to gain?

Ryoken sat back, his hands falling away from the program readouts.

Maybe Kyoko or Genome could… explain it. Maybe Aso knew…. Maybe not. Ryoken dumped all the programs on his flash drive into one of the emptier boxes, replacing them with all the programs he’d accidently activated.

He slowly stood up, staring down at the flash drive. It didn’t make any sense.

Something inside him felt betrayed.

No. It must have been a very old file, from before his father had committed to destroying the ignis. He must have tucked it away and forgotten about it.

That had to be it.

Ryoken took a deep breath and logged out.

~

Few things truly scared him anymore. He’d lost his father, he’d felt the scathing resentment of a lost child, and he’d fought the ignis tooth and nail, falling short a number of times. Ryoken had lived through most of his worst fears, only to come out stronger for it.

But nothing could have prepared him for the terror that swept through him when he logged out to see Aso, part way through frantically trying to rouse him, looking down at him to say “Specter disappeared.”

Aso and Kyoko had been in the meeting room with Specter, all of them sitting at the round table while they discussed plans. Aso had turned around for only a moment to get them all refills of coffee while Kyoko had pulled a file off the printer. They both remembered Specter making a sound, one he often did when something sparked his interest. But when they both had turned back, Specter had vanished without a trace. The papers he’d been looking through had scattered across the table.

Ryoken sat at that same table, his head in his hands as all of his lieutenants tried to make sense of what could have possibly happened. Genome muttered something about spontaneously manifesting latent psychic powers. Kyoko swatted at his arm halfheartedly.

They all looked much worse than they had that morning. Aso’s face was thin and drawn tight with worry. Kyoko had been running her hands through her hair for Genome had always been the best at hiding his stress, but he had already started developing dark circles under his eyes.

“It’s my fault,” Ryoken muttered, looking up at Specter’s empty chair. “I- accidently activated a program, a series of programs…while going through my father’s files.”

“Activated?” Aso asked, looking at him, “What programs?”

Ryoken wordlessly held up the flash drive. Genome gingerly plucked it from his fingers, plugging it into his laptop. There was a long moment of silence, it seemed to stretch on for an eternity.

“Did you know the Professor had this?” Kyoko asked softly, the silence shattering like broken glass.

Aso grunted a negative. “It’s old code. Maybe… while he was imprisoned under SOL’s watch?” He tapped his fingers against the wooden table.

“Why make this then?” Kyoko asked, leaning further over Genome’s shoulder to squint at the code. She probably needed stronger glasses. “If he wrote it while he was making the ignis.”

“Likely expecting trouble,” Aso stepped back, scratching at his beard. “From SOL or… he anticipated trouble from the ignis, before running the simulations.”

“These other two programs through,” Genome interjected, swiveling in his seat to look up at the two of them. “If we deduce that ‘IGS’ means ‘ignis’ and this first program was made to revive them, how ever it did, what about ‘ORGN’? What is being ‘fortified’ here?”

“…Origin,” Ryoken breathed, raising his head. This day just kept getting worse. “The ignis called the children they were made from their origins.”

“Origin… I think I remember that.” Aso tapped his finger against his chin. He started pacing along the wall with windows. “But why would the Professor create a program like this…?”

“I can think of one reason,” Genome grumbled, tapping his finger against the computer screen. “This was made to gather the children from the Hanoi Project. The reason I can think of that the Professor would want to do that would be-.”

“To restart the project?” Kyoko sounded horrified, and a little sick. “He wouldn’t….” She swallowed her words, looking down. “No, he- he might have. Back then, we all….”

“The past is the past,” Aso said, putting a hand on her shoulder, “The only thing we can do about it now is do what we can to atone for our actions.” The other two knights nodded. Ryoken found himself dipping his head as well.

“The part that concerns me,” Genome muttered as he pointed at a place on the screen, “is this revival program. What did he think he would be reviving the ignis from…?”

“That’s not important right now,” Kyoko said, nudging his shoulder, “What happened to the lost children, the origins? Specter was right here. It wasn’t like the Anothers. His physical body disappeared in an instant.”

Ryoken took a deep breath, steadying himself, and pushed himself to his feet. “If these programs were meant to be used to recollect the lost children, then we can at least assume they’re not in immediate danger. They are likely being held somewhere in the network. We’ll send words to the knights, have them start searching for-.”

A vibration on his wrist cut him off. His duel disk’s communication line was ringing. It was an emergency contact line that he’d given to everyone in Playmaker’s group, just in case. Ryoken stepped back, nodding at his lieutenants. “Send word to the knights.” They nodded back and flitted to their own computers. Aso was likely the one composing the alert, while Kyoko and Genome started up the searches for ignis code.

Ryoken stepped out into the hallway and closed the door. The boat rocked a little as it rolled over a wave. Ryoken headed down the hall towards his bedroom, answering the call.

“Revolver!” the panicked voice of Aoi Zaizen came through before he could even say anything. “It- It’s Miyu! She- she’s gone! She’s just gone!”

Honestly, he should have expected that call.

And the next one.

“Ryoken! Jin- Jin just-! He-! He just-!” Kusanagi was practically hyperventilating.

But the third call was a surprise.

“He- hello…?” A small feminine voice said nervously into the phone.

Ryoken’s fingers paused on his keyboard, halfway through revising his seeker code. He looked down at his duel disk, sitting beside his keyboard. “Who am I speaking to?”

“My- my name is Kiku Kamishirakawa. Takeru- Takeru told me to call if… anything weird happened to him, or if I was in trouble-. He said you would help and-.”

“It’s alright,” Ryoken said in a softer voice. “Tell me what happened.”

There was an audible deep breath from the other end. “We were walking home and- and I looked away for just a second and- then he was gone…! He was just gone! I don’t-!”

“It’s alright. Thank you for calling.” He heard an aborted sniff from her side and internally cringed. “Homura will be fine… I promise.”

“Okay.” He could almost hear her smile. “Takeru trusts you, so- so I will too.”

Ryoken tried not to notice the bolt of emotion that shot through his chest. Homura trusted him. That shouldn’t have been… anything. It shouldn’t have… felt like that. He felt his lips twitch upwards, in spite of himself. But he quickly squashed the feeling and got back to work.

~

The first response came hours after the ‘incident’. Revolver had been scouring Deep Vrains for a large part of that, searching places far below where users typically roamed. Viruses and hackers ran rampant here, but most of the ‘sentient’ residents knew better than to pick a fight with Revolver. And those that didn’t very quickly found themselves face to face with Borreload Dragon.

The residents of Deep Vrains scattered before him, hissing about Revolver’s very bad mood. He thundered through their underground world with all the civility of a raging dragon, much like Borreload Dragon’s attitude at his back. He paid no attention to them. They weren’t important.

What was important was the sudden chime of an incoming message. That particular sound signaled that it was a message from one of Playmaker’s team. When Revolver opened the message, he saw that it was from Ghost Girl. It didn’t say much, which was odd in itself. Ghost Girl was usually talkative in her messages. But this one was short, curt almost.

‘You need to see this.’ And coordinates.

Revolver angled his board hard to the side, slipping into one of the many shortcuts that littered Deep Vrains. The Deep Vrains residents had a need for many quick escape routes.

Multicolored lights raced past him, almost as fast as his mind was spinning.

The coordinates were high above Vrains proper, hovering among the floating lights that illuminated the world below. Ghost Girl was waiting there for him. She didn’t bother to wave her usual overly friendly hello, just turned and flew through the lights, leaving Revolver to follow her. He did so, trying not to worry the inside of his lip as the winding path she took him on grew longer.

Ghost Girl stopped after a couple minutes. Revolver slowed his board to a standstill beside her, staring up in awe at the massive golden building that spread out before them.

The architecture was amazing, ornate designs with pillars holding up a high roof. Stained glass depicting images of armor-clad figures, warriors surrounded with light, decorated every window. There was a short staircase that led up to massive dark wooden doors, inlaid with a golden decoration of a silhouetted figure in long robes, which felt strangely familiar. A brilliant light, almost a miniature sun hovered in an opening above the door, floating in a hollowed-out window.

“What the hell…?” Revolver breathed. That had definitely not been a SOL installment.

“Akira asked me to investigate an odd code that one of SOL’s scans picked up,” Ghost Girl said, staring at the building instead of looking at Revolver. “Neither one of us expected this.” She gestured helplessly at the golden… palace. It was a palace. “What do you make of it?”

Ryoken pressed his lips together. He flew closer to the palace, gently touching the closest pillar. The scanning programs in his fingertips read the code and reported it back to him, the readout flashing across his visor.

This was ignis code.

Revolver immediately tried to go deeper, look further into it. This was obviously a light attribute code. Did that mean Jin Kusanagi was here? Revolver pressed further into the code, trying to search. Ghost Girl yanked him back by his coat just before a bolt of lightning shot down the pillar, crackling with enough energy to fry him.

“That was close,” Ghost Girl sighed, her hands tightly holding onto Revolver’s shoulders. She’d yanked him off his own board and onto her own. He was sitting on her board now, his legs dangling over the abyss of the sky below. Revolver took a short breath, closing his eyes for a moment. He pressed a button on his duel disk, recalling his board to him.

Revolver stepped onto his board, sliding off of Ghost Girl’s. “It’s protected by an enormous firewall, underneath the top layer.”

“Firewall? More like an electric fence.” Ghost Girl shook her head. “What did you get? Anything?”

“It’s ignis code, at the very least. Maybe… Jin Kusanagi is inside.”

“Does that mean there’s a place in the network like this that’s holding Miyu too?” Revolver glanced back at her, earning a shrug. “Akira told me about her sudden disappearance, and your Knights aren’t exactly subtle when they look for something.”

Revolver scoffed softly, then dipped his head a little. “I think so.” Ghost Girl nodded determinedly.

“What do we do then?”

Revolver looked up at the doors in front of them, gilded with the golden silhouette. “I don’t know….”

“Hmm? The great Revolver doesn’t have a plan for once? My-my, what an unexpected surprise.”

He didn’t even bother sending her a glare. He tapped at his duel disk, summoning a more powerful scanning program. He launched it from a distance, watching as it washed over the building. Almost immediately, a message echoed back at him in ignis-speak. His duel disk translated it on a readout.

Ghost Girl, hovering over his shoulder, muttered, “Ugh, creepy…”

‘Protection. Origin. Lock. Protection. Origin. Lock.’ The words kept repeating, over and over. Revolver had to agree. It was a little creepy.

He looked up at the palace looming over them. Jin being in there seemed more likely by the moment. “I’m going in.”

Ghost Girl nearly choked. “What?! You can’t be-. Hey! Revolver!”

He steeled himself as he guided his board forward. No matter what awaited him in there, he wouldn’t falter, he wouldn’t fail. Revolver made a silent oath to himself.

He would save the lost children again.


	2. The Light Palace

He dreamed he was floating, which was strange. Jin hadn’t thought he could dream anymore, not since he’d gotten out of the hospital. He hadn’t dreamed since then, except… sometimes he thought he did. 

There were sometimes, only sometimes, when Jin was almost sure that he was dreaming. There were figures that seemed so familiar, but he just couldn’t quite place them. He could only remember fractions of most of them: a splotch of red and yellow on green; a furling, winding line of red over blue; grey and red on billowing white. 

Though, a few images came in a bit clearer: a large man with gold hair and a gentle voice, gentle hands; a smaller boy, a blond mop of hair bouncing at his heels; a small green figure, small enough to fit in his hand, that was wrapped in lines of white bandages, and trailed a comparatively huge cape. Then the figure he always remembered the clearest: a small figure, colored yellow and gold, who always seemed to shine, just a little.

Jin was never quite sure if they were actually dreams or not. They seemed too real, but they were just out of reach. Jin didn’t tell anybody about those not-dreams. He didn’t know why, there was no real reasoning behind it. Maybe he just didn’t want Shoichi to worry. Shoichi was always worrying, especially about him. 

So Jin didn’t mention the dreams he wasn’t sure he was actually dreaming. 

But the floating feeling… Jin was even less sure he was actually dreaming it. It wasn’t like those other not-dreams. It felt more real than those other dreams. The floating feeling wrapped around him like a blanket, warm and fuzzy. It felt a little like the weighted blanket Shoichi had gotten him… some time ago, he couldn’t remember. 

Jin felt like he was sleeping, but conscious of it. Not like lucid dreaming. He was asleep, but aware of being asleep, not dreaming. Jin tried to roll over, curl around his nice and warm weighted blanket and hug it to his chest, but he couldn’t make himself move. He heard himself make a soft noise of complaint. 

A soft touch on his cheek responded. “Shh,” a soft voice whispered, coming from on top of his chest. “Don’t wake up…, Jin. Don’t wake up.”

Jin felt his lips twitch and his nose scrunch. Wasn’t he already awake? Sort of? And why did that voice sound… familiar…? The weight on his chest shifted a little, wrapping around him a little tighter. He felt like he was being hugged by his blanket. 

“It’s better for you… if you just stay asleep,” the voice sighed softly, “I’ve done so much to harm you already, you don’t need to wake up to this.” Jin felt his fingers curling against the soft, almost fleshy thing wrapped around him. What was that? It was warm. It shifted again. There were several pieces to it, arm like parts that gently cradled him, one was coiled around his leg. It helped ground him from the floating feeling, drawing him towards wakefulness. 

A soft sigh came from the thing wrapped around him. Something warm, head shaped, tucked against his shoulder. A long stretch of silence passed around them. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with you, Jin…. This impossible partnership…, I know it’s my fault, not yours. I’m the problem, the failed link, between the two of us, and within the ignis, I was always… the one who would fail. And in my failure, I dragged the rest of them, you, down with me….”

Jin turned his head towards the voice, it sounded so sad, fighting against the lull of warm sleepiness. He couldn’t force his eyelids open. Something was so familiar about the voice, but he couldn’t quite place it. A feeling, a name, hovered just out of reach. He curled his fingers against the warmth, trying to catch the thought. 

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with you…,” the voice said again, more resigned this time. “You’re supposed to be someone precious to me, the way the origins are to the other ignis. But I-….” The warmth against his shoulder moved, gently touched his cheek, making his eyelids flutter. “I could never form a bond with you. No matter how many simulations I ran, no matter what I tried, there was no future where-.” The voice… he sounded so sad. “-where we made a connection.”

Heartbroken was the word that came to mind.

The voice didn’t speak again, just curled tighter around him, in a protective embrace. Jin could almost feel his emotions, burning, twisting into knots. Jin moved his hand slowly, slipping it out of the embrace and over the top of the warm blanket. He felt it move, twist to look at his hand. Jin tightened his grip, pulling it into a hug. 

“I don’t think…,” he mumbled sleepily, “you’ve ever tried….” He finally managed to pry his eyes open, blinking up at the creature above him. 

The creature had six arms, all of which were wrapped protectively around Jin. His tail was wrapped tightly around one of his legs. His face was full of jagged teeth, with a large golden eye that stared back at him, wide with shock, and maybe a bit of fear. There were two small parts on his head that stuck out, one pointing up and one down. 

A feeling of recognition sparked inside of him. Something… something was familiar…, but still out of reach. He still felt so floaty, kind of lethargic. It took so much effort not to just let his eyes slip closed. He let out a soft, sleepy noise, blinking hard to try to stay awake. 

“Lightning….” The name slipped through his lips before he even realized he knew it. The arms around him and the tail twined around his leg tightening in response. “Have you…?” he pushed forward, “Have you ever tried to make a connection… with me?”

“No.” the creature, Lightning, said shortly. He looked away, almost shyly, or… ashamed? “With the simulations, I could predict trillions of possible outcomes. There was never one that turned out… favorable for that.” 

“You should try anyways.”

“There would be no point. It was impossible.”

“Mm…. That’s what… the doctors said about me… getting better. And I got better, so you can- can at least try….” Something was tugging at him, gently but insistently, pulling him back down towards conscious sleep. His eyelids fluttered, growing heavier. 

‘Protection. Origin. Lock. Protection. Origin. Lock. Protection. Origin. Lock.’

His fingers trailed lethargically over Lightning, laying over his chest. “I heard somewhere… that humans are good at… defying predictions…. M’ name’s Jin….” 

“I know who you are, Jin Kusanagi.”

Jin cracked a sleepy smile, petting the creature’s back. “You should introduce yourself too…. It’s the first step in… making a connection.”

“…Lightning. My name is Lightning.” 

“Yeah…,” Jin murmured, slipping away even as he tried not to. “Glad to… meet you…, Lightning….” The lethargy took him, pulling him down, further than before. There was a buzzing like static that filled his mind.

‘Protection. Origin. Lock. Protection. Origin. Lock. Protection. Origin. Lock.’ 

Jin’s eyelids fluttered open again, seeing beyond Lightning for the first time. They were floating weightlessly in a sphere of golden light. There was a room beyond it, but it was hard to see beyond the shifting light of the bubble. Jin let his eyelids flutter closed, feeling strangely safe, safer than he thought he’d ever felt.

He heard Lightning’s voice as he slipped down into a warm nothingness. “This time, I will protect you, Jin.” 

~

Revolver was a bit surprised that he was actually welcomed into the palace. The doors opened before him, allowing him to fly through. However, they slammed shut behind him with a foreboding finality, locking Ghost Girl out and him in. Alarm bells were ringing in his head, but he’d already made his choice. There was no turning back now. Not like he could, even if he’d wanted to. 

There was no data current inside the palace, so his board dropped to the floor. Revolver stepped off his board and recalled it. With a flash of green light, it retreated into his duel disk.

Revolver looked around the room. It was just as elegant and ornately designed as the outside, gold pillars and stained glass with images of figures he couldn’t quite place. A white carpet ran from one end of the room, where he was standing, and out the door on the other side. Well, at least the path forward was clear.

Revolver’s footsteps were quiet on the white carpet. He was uneasy, feeling like something was watching him as he moved forward. There was a sense of unease that knotted in his stomach, winding his nerves tighter. He suddenly felt seven years old again. The feeling sneaking out of bed to gaze at the brilliant Stardust Road hit him like a physical blow, nearly winding him.

He could remember it so clearly. Every night that he would open his eyes to see the glimmer of Stardust Road from the window of his room, he would sneak out to see it from the living room balcony. Usually there was no need to sneak, but sometimes…. He remembered all the times where he’d sneak past the remnants of one of his father’s work parties. His father, along with Genome, Kyoko, Aso, and a few others he couldn’t quite remember, would celebrate a break through by drinking into the night, only to complain about their hangovers in the mornings, like the brilliant people they were. 

Ryoken would slip past them to get to the balcony with the best view, their blanket covered bodies littered around the living room and about half of them snoring. When he did, he’d be out there scarcely five minutes before Aso, with not a single grey hair in his beard or at his temples, would show up with blankets and hot chocolate. Aso would lift Ryoken into his lap as they sat on the deck chair, watching the glittering of Stardust Road together.

Ryoken remembered once, when he’d actually fallen asleep on Aso’s chest. He cherished that memory. There weren’t that many memories from his childhood that he remembered fondly, but that was one.

The whistling of something flying through the air came from behind him. Revolver whipped around, his hand flying towards his duel disk. He couldn’t see anything out of place. More hesitant now, Revolver stepped into the room beyond the entrance hall. 

Unsurprisingly, the doorway disappeared the moment he stepped through it. Revolver clenched his fists, shoving the nervousness down. He was in a large room, the carpet still traveling forward, leading to a glowing golden throne sitting on a raised dais. In the glowing throne was a familiar figure, one leg crossed over the other. Suddenly, with a dawning horror, Revolver recognized the silhouette that was on the door of the palace. 

Dressed in gold and white robes with black clothes underneath, Jin Kusanagi stared coldly down at him from his seat on the glowing golden throne. He was sitting with one leg crossed over the other, one hand propping his head up. His expression was cold, almost challenging. There was something about his gaze, his eyes, that was just… wrong. They seemed to glow with a golden inner light. 

“You,” Jin said, his voice edged and cold. It was so unlike the Jin that Revolver knew he had become after getting his life back. “Why are you here?”

Revolver tightened his fists, feeling the leather creak between his fingers. This was a test then? He’d pass it. He had to. “I am here to save Jin Kusanagi,” he said in a voice that sounded much more confidant than he felt. 

“There is no need to save him,” the figure on the throne said, tilting his head slightly.

“What?” Revolver narrowed his eyes. This person referred to Jin like he was someone else. So, if he wasn’t Jin….

“Jin is safe here. This place was made to protect him.” The figure on the throne rose to his feet, his robes flaring around him. “There is no need to save him. He is already saved.”

Revolver felt a cold shiver run up his spine. He started thinking of strategies in case he had to fight his way to Jin. “Jin needs to go home.”

“Jin needs to be safe. He is safe here.” The glowing gold eyes burner brighter, colder, ready to fight. Revolver felt his heart clench in his chest. He refused to let it show on his face. “Jin will stay here. He is safe here.” 

Revolver narrowed his eyes. What could he do? He felt like he was arguing with a brick wall. Even Specter on his worst days was easier to talk to than this. “…Who are you, really?”

Revolver clutched his head, barely holding back a shout of pain as something shot through his mind like an electric current.

‘Protection. Origin. Lock. Protection. Origin. Lock. Protection. Origin. Lock.’

“I am the protector of the Light Origin. I am the lock that keeps him safe. Jin is safe here. Jin will stay here, and be safe.”

Revolver shook his head, gritting his teeth against the reverb that was still rattling his brain. “He can’t stay here.”

“Why not?” The protector narrowed his eyes at that, looking like he was getting ready to fight as well. Given how his last fight with a Light attributed Ignis program had gone… Revolver didn’t particularly want it to come to that. 

“Jin Kusanagi has spent more than enough of his life in a cage.”

That caused the protector to pause. He tilted his head. “Cage….”

“He spent ten years lost in the darkness thanks to the lost incident! He doesn’t deserve to spend any more of his life as a trapped victim!” Revolver stepped forward, ready to beg the protector if he needed to. Out of all the lost children, Jin deserved this the least. “Please…. His brother is waiting for him to come home….” 

The protector tilted his head. Slowly, the protector descended the steps of the dais. Revolver could feel his heartbeat in his throat. He would fight, if he had to. He didn’t want to, part of him was scared to, but he would fight. The memory of his duel with Lightning burned at the back of his mind, taunting him with failure, the failure to save Jin. Suddenly, he was struck with how similar this situation was to that one. If the protector pulled Jin out of nowhere, if he even alluded to using Jin as a hostage…. Revolver would surrender himself in a heartbeat, if only to save Jin Kusanagi this time. 

He had to save Jin, at the very least. 

The protector stopped in front of him. Jin was the same height as he was, but stood just a little shorter now, with the heels on Revolver’s avatar. The protector stared up into Revolver’s eyes. The strange golden color made his eyes seem like they were looking far deeper than they should have been able to. 

“My mission… is to protect the Origin of the Light Ignis, Jin Kusanagi.” The protector tilted his head slightly. 

Revolver swallowed thickly. “This isn’t protection. All you’ve done is locked him in another white room.” First, the empty white room from the lost incident. Second, the room at his hospital, and the darkness of his mind, which he had spent ten years of his life locked inside. Third, this palace, no matter how beautiful, or how gilded. It was just another room to lock him inside.

The protector seemed to understand the weight of that. He stepped back from Revolver, slightly less confrontational. “This will… hurt Jin…,” he mumbled, looking distraught. “Being alone… will hurt Jin. That is not protection. That is not-.” 

Revolver stood quietly, feeling something tight constrict in his chest. 

The protector raised his head, looking Revolver in the eye again. “Will you protect Jin?”

“With my life,” he responded without hesitation. 

The protector paused for a long moment, looking Revolver in the eye with an unreadable expression. “Then… I will leave them to you.” The protector turned and silently walked back to his throne, pausing for a moment in front of it. “Jin will not wake fully until you prove your resolve.” The protector looked over his shoulder at Revolver. “I trust that you can figure out what you must do.” 

Revolver frowned, his eyebrows pinching together. “It is something along the lines of finding the other Ignis and Origins, isn’t it?” 

The protector chuckled softly. “Who can say?” He turned around, a soft smile on his face. It made him look so much like Jin. “I enjoyed talking to you, however briefly.” He sat down in the regal lounging pose he’d been in earlier, one leg crossed over the other and one arm propping his head up. “Protect the Light Origin and Ignis, Revolver,” he said softly, almost like a quiet plead. His eyes flickered closed.

Revolver was suddenly blinded by a bright light that consumed the room. He threw his arm over his eyes, gritting his teeth. It took him a moment to turn on the glare shield mode on his helmet. He looked back up, past the arm shielding his face. 

There was a bubble of light hanging from the ceiling. It hadn’t been there before, or at least it hadn’t been visible before. The bubble of light floated down until it was hovering just above the golden throne. The bubble started dissipating. 

Revolver felt his eyes go wide as he caught a glimpse of familiar dark hair. Jin. 

The bubble disintegrated completely, gently dropping Jin into the figure sitting on the throne. They melded together seamlessly. There was a moment of pause. Revolver felt like he was holding his breath. Then Jin twitched. A soft groan rose form him as he slowly raised his head, blinking sleepily. 

“Hn? Wha-?”

Revolver steeled himself and stepped forward. “Jin Kusanagi, are you alright?”

Jin jumped, leaning far back against the back of the throne. “Hh- uh- I- I’m alright.” He looked around wildly, like he was trying to figure out where he was. “Where-?” He shied away a little more with each step Revolver took towards him, so Revolver stopped at the stairs of the dais, giving him space and the high ground.

“You’re in Link Vrains right now. What do you remember?”

“Uh- I was… at school… my club meets on Thursdays…. Why am I in Link Vrains? I don’t even have an account…!” He was still looking around, looking more distraught. “What am I wearing…?” he muttered. “Where- where’s Lightning?”

“Lightning?” Revolver blinked. Jin had memories of Lightning? He took a step forward.

“I am here.” 

Revolver froze. A yellow and gold colored monster-formed ignis crawled out of the folds of the bunched-up robes on Jin’s lap. It was… much smaller than the last time he had seen an ignis take monster form. Revolver’s arm twinged and ached. 

“Lightning!” Jin gasped, scooping the ignis up in his hands. “You’re so small!” The ignis raised his head, blinking sleepily at Jin. 

“Are you alright, Jin?” 

Jin nodded, “Yes, but you- you’re so much smaller than you were, are you okay?” 

Lightning stretched out, tendril limbs flexing over the edges of Jin’s fingers. Revolver didn’t know what to do. Lightning, of all ignis, was here, touching Jin. In that form he could so easily rip Jin’s data apart. If he felt the least bit spiteful or resentful, he could- 

Lightning scrubbed at his face with one of his arms, making a grumbling noise. “I am just sleepy. I don’t like this feeling. My size has little connection to my wellbeing. I am fine, Jin.”

A relieved smile spread across Jin’s face. “I’m glad.” He glanced up at Revolver warily. Revolver felt like he’d just swallowed one of Kusanagi’s hot dog whole. It was not a good feeling. “Lightning, there’s-….” 

Lightning turned, finally looking at Revolver. “I see…, Revolver.” 

Revolver felt something in his gut coiling. If he had to fight Lightning, by everything in this world, he would. He absolutely didn’t want to, especially with Jin seemingly on Lightning’s side and so close to the ignis physically. If he had to send an alert to his knights, tell them that Jin was here and that Lightning was here, and to drag Kusanagi here by his hair if they had to, tell them before Lightning ripped him to shreds, would it even make it out of the palace? For all he knew, no message could reach the outside. If Lightning decided to capture or kill him, maybe even without dueling him first, would anyone know?

Lightning turned his head back towards Jin, “Jin, you can trust Revolver.”

What?

Jin blinked, making a small inquisitive noise. “I can?”

Lightning raised himself up, stretching one last time, then pulling his body back into his default ignis shape. He crossed one arm over his chest, the other raised beside his head. “Yes. He very nearly forfeited his life for you before. When you were a hostage-,” Lightning glanced back at Revolver, “When I… took you hostage, Revolver nearly let himself be destroyed because he refused to hurt you.” Lightning tilted his head a little. “Revolver is one human that you should trust, to keep you safe, no matter whatever else happens.”

Revolver was a little stunned. He… did not expect that. That was beyond the last thing he expected. Jin looked up at him, still a little warry, but nodded. “Alright.” He slowly stood up from the golden throne, careful in holding Lightning. He grumbled bitter tidings at his clothes, batting at the loose robes with his free hand. “Alright then,” Jin squared his shoulders, “What now?”

Revolver offered Jin a crooked smirk. “Now, we get you out of here.” He wondered what the protector had meant by Jin not waking fully.

The answer came a few moments later. 

Jin couldn’t log out.

Even with Lightning trying his best to hack whatever program that brought them into Link Vrains and trapped them here, there was no leads on how to get either Lightning or Jin out of Vrains. Revolver felt like banging his head against one of the golden pillars. He refrained though. 

Jin poked around the front hall, captivated by the stained glass. Lightning floated at his side, just above his shoulder. He was almost acting as clingy as Revolver remembered Ai being. Oh gods- Ai. He was brought back by this too, right? Revolver felt some part inside his chest twisting. Ai didn’t die the same way the other ignis did. There was a chance that-. 

Revolver shook his head, pushing the thoughts away.

He tasted something bitter.

“So,” Jin piped up from the other side of the room, “are we stuck in here then?” 

“You seem to be stuck in the network for the time being, though… I would hope that we’re able to leave this place. I can set a room up for you. You can talk to your brother there. He has been worried.”

“Shoichi is always worried,” Jin hummed, “But… in this case… I guess I can’t really blame him for it.”

Revolver beckoned Jin towards the door of the palace. Jin hesitantly followed him. Lightning landed on Jin’s duel disk and shrank down into it, shooting Revolver a look that said ‘Keep quiet’. Though there was no real heat in it. This was so surreal. 

As they approached the doors of the palace, they opened of their own accord, which was a small relief. At least they weren’t being trapped in here. Revolver glanced over his shoulder as Jin stepped over the threshold, feeling a wash of relief. He’d been worried that the protection program would trap Jin inside the palace. Revolver summoned his board, stepping onto it. Jin’s eyes lit up.

“Do I get to ride that?” Revolver felt himself smirking, silently holding a hand out towards Jin. Jin was practically giddy as he took Revolver’s hand and stepped onto the board. Revolver instructed him to hold on tight and guided the board to float higher. 

Revolver looked out, beyond the edge of the palace’s area, seeing a lone figure standing on a board of their own. They were sitting, legs dangling over the edge of their board, but they quickly scrambled to their feet. Revolver was a little surprise to see Ghost Girl waiting for them in the evening light of Link Vrains. 

“You waited?” he asked her when they were close enough to talk. 

“Of course!” She leaned forward. “Are you alright, kiddo? Big bad Revolver didn’t scare you, did he?”

Jin made a disgruntled sound and shifted so he was more hidden behind Revolver. Revolver cleared his throat. “Ghost Girl, have you contacted Zaizen at all?”

“Hm. Depends. Older or younger?”

“Obviously I mean Akira Zaizen.”

She hummed again, tapping her finger against her chin. “I have, indeed. Why?”

“Have him look for other out of place areas like this one. There should be five more.”

She raised her eyebrows, then nodded. “Right. I’ll do that then.” She smiled at Jin one last time. “Tell your big brother that I said ‘hi’, okay?” She waved as she logged out. 

“Shoichi knows her…?” Jin muttered. 

“They’re acquainted, at least.” 

Jin hummed, his face screwing up into a tight expression. “Shoichi has been talking to someone online lately…. He won’t tell me who though.”

Revolver shrugged one shoulder. Honestly, he didn’t care who Kusanagi was associating with outside of Playmaker and Soulburner. The former had been on radio silence for months, and was starting to worry everyone despite their convictions that he would come back. The later was pestering Revolver on his own schedule. 

Revolver couldn’t help the smile that flickered across his lips. The last text he’d received from Homura had been a short one, a picture of a small cactus with a little dragon shaped hat that someone had made out of felt sitting on it. The accompanying text had just been ‘It you.’ He would never admit to anyone that the text had made him choke on his drink. It had very nearly made it go up his nose. 

Homura was missing now too.

Revolver shook the thought off, steadying himself. He had found Jin. He would find Homura and Specter and… and Playmaker, and the others too. He refused to lose to the programmed schemes of a ghost, even if it had been his father’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHA! Chapter two! I'm really excited for this one yall. -w- <3
> 
> (Vrains fic ideas keep jumping me from behind!! There are so many!! So... I may start another fic in tandem with this one.)
> 
> Thank you for reading! ^^ b


	3. The Grand Tree Glade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Late? I'm not late. 030 Donno what you mean~!
> 
> Ok, I'm a little bit late.... =3=

Specter remembered this; being sheltered, protected, safe. He remembered this feeling from his mother; her branches shielding him against the weather and creatures of the wild, her trunk rising above him like a guardian angel. He remembered crawling into the split in her trunk when he felt the need to hide, to reconnect with her, with himself. 

He remembered this feeling from Master Ryoken. Specter had felt so hallow, stripped of everything he cherished and longing for something to wrap around him again. From the moment Master Ryoken had reached his hand out towards him, Specter had felt himself wrapped in his protection. 

But this wasn’t the same. It felt very distinct from his mother’s or Master Ryoken’s protection, but it was a feeling he recognized. The ignis was new though. 

It was a boxy half-melted looking thing, tentacle arms spread out over him like a massive blanket. Its head rested on his chest. Its eye blinked at him blankly. Specter returned the expression. 

They, or rather Specter, was laying on a reclined bed, one that warped to fit and support the curve of his body. It was carved, or maybe formed, from the wood that made up and wound upwards through the space. It was a vaguely cylindrical shape, which only took Specter a moment to realize he was laying in the hallow inside of a truly massive tree. It was more than big enough to fit a skyscraper filled block of Den City in to it. 

They were suspended somewhere within the trunk, somewhere in the middle. The wood wrapped around them like a loose shell. It felt so alive, almost like he could feel it breathing. Specter half felt like he was floating, like he could have floated away if the ignis was not laid out on top of him. 

Neither of them said anything for what felt like a long time. Despite the oddness of the situation, Specter didn’t particularly feel the need to move. There was an odd sort of peace in the silence, a quelling feeling of stillness. Peaceful silence was something he rarely got anymore, especially not on the boat. 

Eventually though, it was Specter who broke the silence. “I thought you were dead,” he stated bluntly. Because, of course he had. He had felt the ignis die, the feeling confirmed remotely through Soulburner and the Water Ignis’s origin. But Specter couldn’t help but recognize the ignis in front of his very eyes. Even if he had never seen it in this monstrous form, it was obvious. It was the Earth Ignis, his-. 

The Earth Ignis blinked at him lazily, almost lethargic. It chirped at him in the ignis’ language, a series of clicks and whines and beeps. It must have figured that Specter couldn’t understand it, because it narrowed its eye in concentration. “I thought I was as well-.” The ignis muttered to itself in the ignis language and nestled down more overtop of Specter. 

“What are you doing?” Specter felt his face twisting in confusion. His ignis had not come for him. It had been smart enough not to. So why was it now cuddling on top of him like a love starved pet? 

The ignis raised its head, blinking slowly at him. All at once a feeling like static, like a low electric current, ran through his mind. Through the haze, he felt like he could discern something- an emotion, maybe a word, a series of words. It was in the ignis’ language. 

‘Protection. Origin. Lock. Protection. Origin. Lock. Protection. Origin. Lock.’

Some part of him, something sub-conscious, understood it. It was a command- commanding the ignis to protect its ‘Origin’ and lock down. Though he wasn’t sure quite what that meant, or what it meant for the current situation. Did a former part of SOL do this to the Earth Ignis? Had someone there figured out the Earth Ignis’s connection to him and his connection to Hanoi?

Specter blinked several times in quick succession, feeling the static rising in his mind, like it was trying to drown him. He started feeling drowsy, lethargic. The wood bed beneath him started to feel too soft, like he was sinking into it. He felt-.

The static slowly leached away. Specter hissed through his teeth, his body suddenly feeling sore and disconnected from him. The Earth Ignis shifted again, pressing closer to him, like he was trying to feel Specter’s heartbeat in his chest. 

He could still feel the static, though more distantly. It felt like it was rising around him, but wasn’t quite touching him…. Something seemed to be repelling it…, the ignis. “Are you doing that?” Specter murmured, “Holding it back…?”

Softer clicks and whirrs rose from the ignis, like bitter muttering. “Protection-,” he grumbled, “Coded protection. Stasis. Suspension.” 

Specter raised an eyebrow at him, only partly managing to bite back his grimace. Edging closer and further from sleep was making him nauseous. “Come again?”

The Earth Ignis shuddered, a strange vibrating sound emanating from him. “The protection program is- trying to initiate stasis, suspension, for both of us.” 

Specter blinked. “It wasn’t before?” He didn’t remember coming here, nor how long he’d been here, but something told him it had been some time. 

“No. It was different before. The origin was the only one in stasis, the ignis was awake…, but-. Someone is… rewriting the program. That caused a-,” a series of clicks and whirs followed. The Earth Ignis’s eye furrowed in a distressed confusion. More clicks and more frustrated screeches rattled out of him. 

“Take your time,” Specter murmured softly before he even realized he actually meant it. He actually meant that. Well, the Earth Ignis was… trying to help, so Specter could at the very least return the sentiment in kind. “When it’s difficult to speak… take a moment to just think….” 

The Earth Ignis sighed lowly, his eye sliding shut for a moment. He seemed to recover a bit after a moment. “Someone is rewriting the program, changing parts of it, at this moment. That caused a lull in the effectiveness, which is why we woke up from the suspension.”

“You’re suspended too?” 

“Yes.” The Earth Ignis blinked at him. 

“Spectacular conversationalist, aren’t you?” Specter muttered a bit snippily. 

The Earth Ignis raised his head, looking at Specter as he narrowed his eye confrontationally. “I am… socially awkward.” 

“You don’t say-.” Even Playmaker was more sociable than this. Though, Specter admitted privately to himself, he was at least partly to blame for the Earth Ignis’s… faults. 

The Earth Ignis sighed softly. “The suspension will be… less so for me, my program will still be running, but I may not be quite conscious.” He shuddered, and the static started rising around Specter’s mind again. A blissful nothing, it was calling him. 

It reminded him of his short time suspended within the Tower of Hanoi, waiting for the end. He’d been so content then, though he was glad now that it hadn’t been successful in the end. 

The static feeling that rose around him and the ignis was a little different, more welcoming than nothing. It reminded him of his mother, of napping nestled between her roots. 

“I am… losing-,” the Earth Ignis stuttered, mostly muttering to himself. The static welled up, dragging Specter under the surface of its waves. He felt his awareness slipping away, falling into a soothing lull. 

“Don’t worry…,” Specter cooed, feeling his fingers curl around one of Earth’s arms, “You won’t be alone….” Not this time. 

~

Jin was… not what Ryoken had anticipated. Even though the boy was quiet, he was very outgoing. When Ryoken had checked up on him, and Lightning, he beamed and waved. The moment he’d stepped into the room, Jin dragged Ryoken into a chair and forced him to play a round of Go Fish, then he’d managed to weasel about five more games out of him. 

Ryoken had created a private room for him inside Link Vrains, since neither he nor Lightning could figure out how to let Jin log out. He hopefully wouldn’t need it long, but both Ryoken and Lightning had spared no expense in decorating it. It had couches, tables, a desk and a nice bed. In all honesty, it had been modeled after the rooms in Ryoken’s seaside home, giving him some small pangs of nostalgia. Jin seemed to enjoy the view of the ocean. He and Lightning seemed to prefer sitting at the table closest to it. 

Kusanagi had been difficult to convince to leave at first. Understandably, he hadn’t wanted to leave Jin’s side after the third time his little brother had been kidnapped. He especially hadn’t wanted to leave him with Lightning of all people. Ryoken honestly couldn’t blame him. But he’d been able to convince the man that Jin would be safe in the room, and that he had his own eye on Lightning. Eventually he’d left, but he still checked in every few hours.

Jin didn’t seem to mind it. Ryoken had asked him about it, but Jin had shrugged and laughed. “I guess I’m used to it,” he said as the rubbed the top of Lightning’s head. The ignis surprisingly let him, standing still on the table with his arms crossed over his chest. Though, his eyes were closed like he was actually enjoying it. “He took care of me like this when I was in the hospital, he’s just more worried now cause he doesn’t know where I am all the time.” 

“You remember being in the hospital?” Ryoken asked. He had never known quite how much of Jin’s memories that Lightning had took from him. 

Jin shrugged one shoulder, “It’s mostly a blur, like everything was so same-y day in and out, it’s hard to keep things straight. I know it was a long time though, and that I wasn’t completely… there, mentally.” His eyes unfocused a little as a frown appeared on his face. “I know- something happened to me when I was younger, like- really young. I can’t remember though… I wonder if that’s why our parents aren’t around anymore….”

Ryoken wasn’t sure he knew how to answer that. He crossed his arms over his chest, the leg crossed over his knee bouncing agitatedly. 

“Lightning knows,” Jin said suddenly. He lowered his head to look the ignis in the eye, squinting at him. “But he won’t tell me….”

Lightning looked away from him. “Your brother already wants to kill me; I will not give him more reason to.”

“Like I’d actually let him.” Jin huffed as he poked Lightning in the chest. The ignis grabbed his finger and glared at him. Jin grinned. “Lightning’s ticklish too! It’s so funny.”

“I am not!” Lightning suddenly cried. “Ignis are not ticklish!”

“I don’t believe you,” Jin chirped in a sing-song voice, “And neither does Revolver, I bet.” 

Ryoken shook his head a little. “I wouldn’t know. My interactions with the ignis were…,” he side-eyed Lightning, whose eyes were narrowing at him. “If you want a real answer on that, you’d have to ask Playmaker.”

“Oh- Playmaker…,” Jin hummed, “I’ve heard Shoichi and Takeru talk about him a couple times…. I’ve never met him though.” 

Ryoken raised an eyebrow. That’d make sense, Playmaker had disappeared before Jin had been discharged from his hospital. But- “Why were Kusanagi and Homura talking about Playmaker?” Even as he said it, he regretted it. This was none of his buisness. It was none of his buisness what Soulburner and Playmaker and their allies were doing or talking about. It really didn’t-.

“They said he was missing,” Jin responded with a shrug. “I think they knew each other, maybe they were even friends, but apparently he disappeared without a word. Takeru is pretty torn up about it, like- he said he knows he should give him ‘time’ but he’s also kinda pissed about it…? But Shoichi said he’s more worried about how he’s gonna be when he gets back, whatever that means.”

Lightning turned his head to look up at him. “Does your brother know how much you eavesdrop on him?”

“Not a clue,” Jin grinned with a wink, putting his finger to his lips. 

Ryoken sat back in his seat, thinking about that. What state would Playmaker be in when he returned? He’d gone off to look for any trace of his ignis, he knew that. But now that the ignis were back, well… Ai had died in a different way than the others. Ryoken still wasn’t sure what that meant about this revival situation. Had Ai been saved? Was he with Playmaker now? Was Playmaker even captured? Or was he still roaming the net, looking for an ignis that couldn’t be saved, while all the others got their second chances?

That thought left him bitter and melancholic. So Ryoken brushed it off. 

“Master Revolver,” a voice came from the room’s loudspeaker system. Ryoken nearly jumped, but just barely managed not to. Jin blinked and looked up at the ceiling, where the voice had come from. 

“What is it, Faust?” Revolver said, rising to his feet. 

“The Knights found something,” Faust answered, “It… seems dangerous, but- we think it may be Specter….” 

Revolver straightened up, feeling something spark in his chest. Specter- Specter was going to be okay. He was going to be safe, here, very soon. “Send me the coordinates.” Almost before he finished speaking, the coordinates were in his in-box. 

“Good luck…!” Jin called as Revolver teleported out of the room.

~

The coordinates led him deep, deep down into the net. If the network had a bottom, it’d probably be somewhere close to here. Despite the depths, there was a clear blue sky up above. It was like one of those lakes where you could see clear through to the bottom, except up into the sky. 

Revolver didn’t spend time marveling at the sky though. He was far more interested in the massive tree. To say that it was massive was actually a disservice. It could have easily fit a dozen SOL Tech towers within it. Revolver found it rather fitting that Specter was imprisoned inside a tree, but silently swore to himself that he would never speak that aloud. 

What was even more impressive, was the data storm swirling around it like an angry hurricane, anchored to the tree. It battered at him as he flew closer, not quite trying to slap him down, but certainly not making it easy to fly. The way it circled, the way the winds flowed, reminded him of the data storm surrounding the Tower of Hanoi. Though, thankfully this one lacked the debris. 

Revolver drove his board down to where Faust and a group of knights were standing. Bringing it to a stop a few paces from Faust, who nodded respectfully at him. The other knights saluted or bowed, but Revolver paid no mind to them. “Faust,” he barked, “Report.”

“Yes sir, Revolver.” Faust came to stand behind him, talking loud enough to be heard over the data storm and sounds of creaking wood and the shaking leaves from the tree. “We think we’ve located the entrance, under that knot over the roots.” He pointed towards it with two fingers. “But we can’t get close to it. Every time we try, the tree stops us.” 

“What do you mean it stops you?” Revolver asked. 

“The roots and branches move. They’ve forced a dozen knights to log out already by- uh- stabbing them.” Faust frowned, leaning a little closer. “It might have something to do with Specter’s… usual disposition towards people in general, should anyone get too close….” He frowned and winced. 

“Even you?” Revolver asked, noticing the way he was favoring his left leg and gingerly holding his left wrist. 

Faust nodded regretfully. “I was one of the first to try, after the knights first found him. One of the roots swept my feet out from under me, sent me tumbling backwards. I’ll be alright once I log out,” he added when he saw the look on Revolver’s face. “But the tree has only gotten more aggressive the more we’ve tried to get close to it. The last time…,” he gestured towards the tangle of roots spreading across the ground. Revolver saw pieces of- he saw the broken shards of smashed duel disks. That had been a painful way to log out.

“Have you tried contacting the knights who were-.”

“Yes sir.” Faust nodded sharply. “They seem dazed and disoriented, but overall, in no danger.”

“Good.” Revolver nodded, looking up at the tree as he worried the inside of his lip. Was there really no way in? If Faust was right and the tree was reacting to people the way Specter did…. Oh. It really was that simple, wasn’t it?

Revolver took a deep breath. He really hoped he was right about this. Specter had only completely trusted one person in his life. There was a chance- their best chance was-…. He started walking forward.

“Master Revolver?” Faust called from behind him. He started to follow him, but stopped as Revolver crossed some sort of invisible line. Revolver heard the creaking of wood and the shaking of leaves intensify as the tree started to move. 

Revolver marched up to the roots of the tree, coming to a stop to stand his ground right in front of it. He stared up at branches that moved like living vines, like Specter’s monsters. The branches shot out of the tree’s canopy, whipping towards him with murderous intent. They looked like they would stab right through him. 

“Revolver!” Faust cried in alarm from behind him.

“Specter,” Revolver said in a strong voice. He was right, he was sure. He hoped-. He was right. His breath caught in his throat. The branches stopped mid-air, their jagged tips hanging frozen not that far in front of his face. Revolver tilted his face up a little, looking up at the canopy of the tree. “It’s me. Will you let me in?”

The jagged branches hung still for a moment, then slowly pulled away, receding back into the canopy. The roots shifted and solidified under his boots, forming an easy path up to the entrance Faust had pointed out. Revolver slowly let out the breath he’d been holding. His nerves buzzed with nervous energy. That had been so close-. 

Revolver pulled himself back together and turned back towards the Knights. “Keep searching, there are more to find.” Faust nodded and scattered the knights as Revolver climbed the tree’s roots to its trunk. 

The entrance was a little opening in the trunk, small enough to easily fit a slim young adult. Ryoken had been thinner than Specter ever since they had hit fourteen and thirteen respectably, Specter’s shoulders being a just bit broader. Revolver was a little closer to his build, but wasn’t much too wider than Ryoken himself. The gap in the trunk looked wide enough to fit Specter, so it should allow Revolver as well. 

Revolver turned, feeling the weight of eyes on him. Faust was still there, standing alone at the base of the tree. Revolver opened a channel to Faust in his helmet. “You don’t have to stay…,” he offered. 

Faust glared at him; Revolver could feel the withering gaze even if he was too far away to really see his expression. Faust didn’t respond verbally, instead calling up a program he had stored. He whipped out a lawn chair and dropped it in the grass. Faust sat himself down in it, one leg crossed over the other as he glared up at Revolver. 

Point made.

“Alright,” Revolver said, turning back to the tree as he cut the channel. With just a little maneuvering of his shoulders, he slipped inside. 

~

The inside of the tree somehow felt even bigger than it did on the outside. It was a yawning emptiness, held together by threads that ran from its sides, like heartstrings. Revolver stepped forward, head turning just in time to see the gap in the trunk close tightly behind him. 

Of course it did.

Revolver sighed tiredly. He looked around him, trying to find somewhere that looked important, the way Jin’s palace had its ballroom. But there wasn’t anything that stood out, just the massive crisscrossing bridges that spanned the gap in the tree. There was no way to climb it, no way he could actually search it on foot. So, somewhat hesitant and somewhat anxious to find Specter as quickly as possible, Revolver pulled a card from his duel disk and summoned Borreload Dragon.

Even the massive dragon didn’t make much of a dent in the grand tree’s space. He’d have more than enough space to fly. Borreload lowered his head towards Revolver with a low rumble, allowing him to step on. With a massive gust of wind, the dragon left the ground, soaring up into the depth of the tree. 

As they rose, Revolver looked for any sign of Specter, any sign of deformity in the grand tree’s inner branches. “Specter! Specter, can you hear me?” His voice was swallowed up by the hallow, yawning void. 

It felt… lonely, empty.

Revolver clenched his fists. If Faust had been right, and it seemed like the case, and Specter’s tree was based off his personality, or his subconscious mind, in some way… was this what he felt like? Did he always feel… hallow?

Borreload rumbled beneath him, a rumbling warning growl that he rarely used outside of duels against Playmaker’s cyberse monsters. Revolver was instantly on edge, widening his stance. And- as the creeping feeling settled over his shoulders, he felt like a familiar pair of eyes had settled on his shoulders. 

“Specter. Where are you?” 

“Right here, Master Revolver.” 

The voice came from right behind him. Revolver whirled around. 

Revolver blinked. Suddenly, he was somewhere else.

He was standing in a clearing in a forest, surrounded by trees that towered above him on all sides, far taller and darker than they should have been. It was late evening, the light of the sun quickly slipping away, giving way to the shadows of the trees. There was an unsettling stillness, and yet the feeling that he was surrounded by something living, something that was watching him. 

It was the trees, wasn’t it? They were watching him. Specter had always said that trees were just as alive as he was, even more alive than some percentage of humanity even. In this moment…. 

No-. He had to shake the thought off. This was an illusion. It had to be. He’d been-…. Right! He’d been on Borreload, flying. He had to take care… not to fall. Though, the ground under his feet felt like earth and moss. This was inside the network, after all, no matter how deep. The world could literally be changed in an instant. 

Revolver heard a soft noise off to one side. He turned his head to look and felt his blood chill. A young child in a hoodie sat curled up against the fence that barred entry to a dark, abandoned lab. The scene was so familiar, painfully familiar, horrifyingly familiar. It was one of several moments that Revolver- that Ryoken could never not remember with perfect clarity. 

The young child raised his head. A few locks of platinum blond hair slipped out from under his hood. The child blinked up at him, his expression slowly coming to life. 

“It’s you…,” the child gasped with a fragile hope. 

Ryoken felt his blood freeze in his veins. He wasn’t sure if his heart was still beating. He was very sure that he had stopped breathing. 

The child, Specter, clamored to his feet, quickly dusting himself off and making himself more presentable. When he looked back up at Ryoken there were stars in his eyes. He trotted forward, a smile on his face. “Do you have any more need for me? I’d like to be useful to you again.” 

What was he supposed to say? What could he say? This- this wasn’t just some illusion…. Maybe this was… part of Specter’s subconscious mind, or a dream, or- something else entirely…. Something in the back of his mind nagged him, telling him that this was… something important.

Ryoken remembered the duel Specter had fought against Playmaker, what he had said. 

‘I lived as a specter, a ghost. No one talked to me. No one cared about me. But it was different there. Someone was testing me. Someone expected big things for me. When I realized that, I felt the will to live for the first time. … When I saw him, I knew instantly that he came for me. … Revolver gave me someplace to belong.’ 

Ryoken had so many regrets about the path he’d led Specter down. He might have had a fulfilling life… if he hadn’t met Ryoken. Or maybe he would have taken the same path as Playmaker…. Maybe… things would have been different enough to-…. 

Ryoken knelt down in front of Specter, trying not to choke on his words. “I’ve always had the need for you, Specter…,” he said very softly, barely above a whisper. “You- you are… so much more than a test subject-….”

The child Specter tilted his head. “I am?”

“Yes-,” he did choke that time. “Specter…, you- you are so important to me. You have always been important to me….”

“I’m… important to you…?” Specter blinked at him, almost looking surprised.

“Yes,” Ryoken felt his throat close up as unexpected emotion rose from a stabbing feeling in his chest. He wanted to take Specter away from this place, this cage he’d been sealed in. He wanted him home, safe and annoying everyone with his and Genome’s debates about genetics and plants. He wanted him safe, happy and planting that herb garden he’d talked about one night while they’d been stargazing on the boat. “Specter, I want you… I want you to be back-… with me. I want you to be back home with me. Please- tell me how to find you.”

The child Specter stared up at him for a long, quiet moment before he breathed, “Home…. With you….” He tilted his head. “Home… is with you, isn’t it?” He blinked, his blue eyes suddenly taking on a different shade, a brighter one that seemed to glow from within. “He said, you know… he was certain you’d come for him.”

Ryoken felt his shoulders stiffen, suddenly feeling like he was the smaller one in this situation. “Protector…?” he breathed.

“Yes,” the protector nodded, an uncharacteristically gentle smile on Spector’s face. As Ryoken watched, the forest bled away around them, melting into a swirl of leaf-like data storm particles. The storm circled around Ryoken, obscuring his vision until they suddenly fell away, revealing the inner chamber of the Grand Tree and Borreload Dragon. 

Borreload Dragon rumbled discontentedly at a figure standing on one of the branches that spanned the inside of the tree. The protector, looking much more like Specter now, tilted his head, that strange gentle smile still on his face. Revolver watched him from across the open space between him.

The protector laughed softly. “Specter must care a lot about you, for him to let you in so easily, especially while he’s asleep.”

Revolver narrowed his eyes at that. “What does that mean? Weren’t you actually the one that let me in?”

The protector hummed, “No. That was all Specter’s doing, not mine.” His smile pulled bigger. “The origin dictates how this domain looks and functions. I only control it after it’s created, and-,” he raised his hand, a shimmering ball of orange and brown light appearing behind where he stood on the wooden heart string. Revolver felt himself tense. He wanted to cross the space, to get to Specter. He was right there…!

“And-,” the protector continued with a smile, “I can control when and if I wake the origin and ignis.” Revolver hoped it didn’t show just how much he felt like his heart stopped. 

“It is my duty to protect them both, my duty to keep them both safe and protected.” The protector hummed thoughtfully. “You came here so I would release them to you, correct?”

“Yes,” Revolver breathed, a bubble of desperation welling up in his chest. If he had to fight….

The protector clicked his tongue, “You’re so tense, always assuming the worse, aren’t you?” He hummed thoughtfully, tilting his head, “Well, I doubt anyone even could hurt him under your care.” His smile grew into a toothy grin, something flashing in his eyes. “So this is farewell then, Master Revolver.”

Revolver opened his mouth to say- something, but tendrils of orange and brown light spread from the ball behind the protector, growing like tree roots, stretching out, reaching, until-… they consumed the protector’s form. Revolver couldn’t see him anymore. 

A bubble of panic rose in him, even as he coaxed Borreload closer to the branch. 

The light and roots of the ball faded, revealing the contents within. 

Specter laid on a bed growing out of the branch, curved to support his spine and knees. His eyes were peacefully closed, his lips slightly parted. His hands were crossed over his stomach. He looked like he was sleeping. Revolver had seen Specter sleep like that so many times, on the boat, in the mansion. He felt a wave of relief wash over him. Specter was okay.

But-

Where was the ignis? 

Revolver stepped off Borreload, onto the branch, slowly approaching Specter. He heard Specter’s soft breathing, a quiet pull in, then a puff of release. 

Ryoken paused at Specter’s bedside, almost feeling nervous. He stared down at Specter, his mind suddenly consumed with horrible scenarios where Specter wouldn’t wake up, where he was actually lost-…. Ryoken wasn’t sure if he could handle that, not after his father. He couldn’t lose someone else….

But even as Ryoken worried over him, Specter’s eyes fluttered, then slid open. Ryoken felt his breath catch in his throat as Specter smiled sleepily at him. “Master Revolver….”

“Specter-….” Ryoken did his best not to throw himself at Specter, but the wave of relief practically made him crumble on top of him, wrapping his arms around him and holding him tightly. 

Specter hugged him back just as tight with one hand, the other trapped in between them. Ryoken sighed, sagging as the tension left his shoulders. “Are you alright, Specter?”

“Yes,” he smiled, practically a smirk, tilting his head. “Are you alright, Sir?” 

Ryoken nodded, backing away, feeling a little sheepish. “Yes. I’m just fine. I’m glad you’re safe, Specter.”

Specter raised his eyebrow at his ‘Revolver voice’, clearly not buying the act for a moment. But then, Specter never outright called him out on things like that. 

“The Earth Ignis…,” Ryoken started, only to fall off when Specter looked down at the hand he was still holding against his chest. He gingerly tilted it, revealing a small monster form ignis, curled up enough to easily fit into his hand. This one was blockier than either Ai or Lightning’s monster forms had been, but when a single sleepy eye blinked open, Ryoken was surprised by the relief he felt. 

“Revolver, right?” The Earth Ignis asked. He turned and rather quickly changed back into his humanoid state, floating up out of Specter’s hand and tilting his head slightly at Revolver. “You did come.”

“Is that surprise I hear in your voice, Ignis?” Revolver asked, trying to defuse any lingering hostilities. 

Earth stared at him blankly. “No.”

Revolver pressed his lips together. “Are you always so forward, or it that just because you’re upset with me?”

“I am…,” he narrowed his eyes at Revolver, “socially awkward.”

What the hell?

Specter sighed, holding his hands out in a ‘what ever shall we do’ gesture. He pushed himself to his feet, wobbling just a bit from being laid down for so long. Revolver offered his hand for support, but Specter politely refused with a small, wry smile and a turn of his head. 

Earth’s eyes seemed to flicker between the two of them. He looked like he was… observing. Revolver wasn’t sure how he felt about that, or even what it meant. Specter stretched his shoulders, humming thoughtfully. “I believe I’ve had more than enough of this place for the time being,” he sighed, turning to look at Revolver. “Shall we go home then, Master Revolver?”

“Yes,” Revolver nodded, beckoning Borreload Dragon towards them so they could safely get down. “Let’s go home.” Earth alighted on Specter’s shoulder, sitting down with his legs crossed. 

Revolver thought he heard Specter murmur under his breath, “Home… with you….” But he couldn’t be sure that wasn’t just his imagination and wishful thinking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! Hope you enjoyed! :3c

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed. 
> 
> Feel free to tell me what you think in the comments. I love hearing from people, even if it's just a favorite line or garbled screaming. X3c


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